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Fox News
13 hours ago
- Politics
- Fox News
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand urges Zohran Mamdani to denounce 'globalize the intifada' rhetoric
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., called on New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani to denounce the phrase "globalize the Intifada" during a heated exchange with WNYC radio host Brian Lehrer on Thursday. Gillibrand urged Mamdani to unequivocally denounce the phrase — which she argues is received by the public as a call to "slaughter the Jews" — after a caller accused the candidate of glorifying Hamas and the violent attacks associated with the intifada terrorism campaign launched against Israel in the 1990s. "The caller is exactly the New York constituents that I've spoken to that are alarmed. They are alarmed by past public statements. They are alarmed by past positions, particularly references to global jihad," she said. "This is a very serious issue because people that glorify the slaughter of Jews create fear in our communities. The global intifada is a statement that means destroy Israel and kill all the Jews." The New York senator then called on Mamdani to assure all New Yorkers that "he will protect all Jews and protect houses of worship and protect funding for not-for-profits that meet the needs of these communities." Lehrer pushed back on her insinuation that Mamdani had called for a "global intifada," asking if she doubted his prior statements committing to protecting Jewish people in New York City. "One of the issues I did talk to him about yesterday was exactly this issue, and he has agreed to work with me on this and to protect all residents," Gillibrand replied. After their conversation about Mamdani was briefly derailed by another caller's question, Lehrer jumped right back into their discussion once the Senator finished her response. "On Mamdani, I just feel compelled to say we can find no evidence that he has supported Hamas or has supported violent jihad, as that caller was asserting. Can you?" he questioned. Gillibrand asserted that while she doesn't have "all the data and information" in front of her, she did recall Mamdani referencing "global intifada," and noted that she had requested an in-person meeting with the mayoral hopeful to discuss these issues. The radio host pushed back on the senator once again, claiming that Mamdani clarified to him on his show on Monday that calls for a global intifada "are not calls for violence because intifada is a much broader term involving all kinds of uprisings and resistance and things like that." "Brian, I didn't hear your exchange with him, but if I was speaking to him directly, I would simply say that is not how the words are received," she countered. "It doesn't matter what meaning you have in your brain. It is not how the word is received. When you use a word like intifada — to many Jewish Americans and Jewish New Yorkers, that means you are permissive of violence against Jews." The two continued their back and forth before Gillibrand left listeners with one final message for Mamdani. "If you talk to any group, you talk to our LGBTQ community, you talk to our Black community, you talk to our Hispanic community, there are words and there are imagery and there are things that are said that they will hear it and feel it as a dagger to their throat. If you want to be a leader, you have to recognize how these things are felt and received," she contended. "Saying there should be no word police is irresponsible, because, as a leader, you have to protect everyone. Period," Gillibrand added. Fox News Digital reached out to representatives of Mamdani for comment, but did not immediately hear back.
Yahoo
16 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
'Rambling Incoherence': Trump Ripped After Bizarre 'Word Salad' Attack On Lawmaker
President Donald Trump got verbally sidetracked on Thursday as he tried to promote his 'big, beautiful bill' at a White House event. Trump hit on a number of topics, eventually attacking trans athletes. 'I don't wanna have transgender for anybody that happens to leave the house at a young age,' he said, then shifted mid-thought to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), suggesting a different kind of transition. 'It's crazy and it's so demeaning, and they don't wanna change, I seen it the other day. Guys like Schumer, our great Palestinian senator, this guy,' he said of Schumer, who is Jewish. 'He's changed. He used to like Jewish people. Now he's totally against Jewish people. It's the most incredible transformation I think I've ever seen.' Then he returned to trans athletes. 'But who would allow this to happen? In other sports, the same thing,' he said. 'Try the weightlifting numbers some day, you wanna see some big differences. In a million years the women will never catch these numbers. It's not gonna happen. And it's very demeaning to women. And I don't like it when it's demeaning to women.' Trump has repeatedly attacked Schumer as 'not Jewish anymore' and claimed 'he's a Palestinian now.' Trump's critics on social media put him on blast:
National Post
a day ago
- Politics
- National Post
Vivian Bercovici: Iranian regime's survival now depends on milquetoast leaders
'Death to America' has been the defining chant of the Islamic Republic of Iran since 1979, when radical Shi'ite clerics overthrew the ruling Pahlavi monarchy. Article content 'Death to Israel' has always been the companion slogan. Article content For more than 50 years, the Pahlavi dynasty had ruled Iran with increasing ruthlessness. The poor, religious Iranians struggling in the teeming slums, seethed. They saw the Shah and his family as being decadent infidels defiling and degrading Iran and Islam. Article content In a recent interview, Beni Sabti, a Tehran-born expert who now resides in Israel, recalled the pro-revolutionary fervour that swept Iran in the early years of the Ayatollahs' rule. Beni was Jewish, and he and his family were constantly threatened and harassed. In 1987, when he was 15, the family escaped on a treacherous journey guided by smugglers. Article content Article content Approximately 15,000 Jews remain in Iran and reports are trickling out that some are being arrested and harassed by the military, particularly in Shiraz and Tehran. Their phones and homes are being searched for any indication of communication with people in Israel. Almost all likely have close family who escaped to Israel or elsewhere since 1979. Such contact could mean death. Article content As we are going to press, a report just came in that the regime has arrested up to 700 Jews in the country for alleged ties to Israel. Ceremonies have been organized in which Jewish leaders and others in attendance pledged allegiance and support to Iran. Article content Article content The regime has shut down internet access for approximately two weeks now, and a vicious clampdown appears to be ongoing, targeting more vulnerable minorities — like the Kurds in the north — and Jews in the cities. Everyone gets the message. Head down. Shut up. Article content Article content Today, 80 per cent or more of Iranians loathe the ruling theocracy. And whereas the opposition factions in the Iranian diaspora may have their differences, there is a broad consensus that the religious regime must be toppled. Article content The overwhelming majority of Iranians want the brutal repression to end. They want a life where they can work, achieve, think and express themselves freely, dress as they please, become citizens integrated with other nations and people without fear of extreme reprisal. But freedom, of course, is the ultimate threat to a totalitarian state. Article content Beginning on June 13, continued waves of Israeli air force attacks deep inside the country shattered the nuclear aspirations of Iran. For days, the skies of Iran were dominated by Israeli and American air forces. All Middle Eastern countries — including Syria — allowed Israeli fighter jets to access their airspace. To attack Iran. Why? Because Saudi, Bahrain, Oman, Syria, UAE — they all loathe the fanatical Iranian regime as much as does Israel.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Sweden Democrats apologise for past Nazi links, antisemitism as election nears
By Johan Ahlander STOCKHOLM (Reuters) -The anti-immigration Sweden Democrats apologised on Thursday for the party's past Nazi links and antisemitism, part of efforts to present a more moderate, mainstream image to voters ahead of a national election next year. The Sweden Democrats were presenting the results of a specially commissioned study that found Nazi and antisemitic views to have been common at party functions and in its printed materials in the 1980s and 1990s. "That there have been clear expressions of antisemitism and support for National Socialist ideas in my party's history I think is disgusting and reprehensible," Mattias Karlsson, a member of parliament often described as the party's chief ideologist, told a news conference. ADVERTISEMENT "I would like to reiterate the party's apology, above all to Swedish citizens of Jewish descent who may have felt a strong sense of insecurity and fear for good reasons." The commissioning of the study sought to acknowledge and break with a past that has long hindered its cooperation with Sweden's mainstream political parties. The Sweden Democrats hope to join a future coalition government after the 2026 election. The party first entered parliament in 2010 and currently supports Sweden's governing right-wing coalition government but has no members in the cabinet. Tony Gustafsson, the historian hired by the party to write the book, said the party had emerged in the 1980s out of neo-Nazi and white supremacist organizations and that it had continued to cooperate with them into the 1990s. "The collaboration seems to have involved using these groups to help distribute election materials," Gustafsson said, adding there were strong indications that one such group, the "White Aryan Resistance", had served as security guards at party gatherings. ADVERTISEMENT Gustafsson said there had been a clear connection to Nazism until 1995, the year that current party leader Jimmie Akesson joined the Sweden Democrats, but that the Sweden Democrats had begun distancing itself from such links thereafter. (Reporting by Johan AhlanderEditing by Niklas Pollard and Gareth Jones)
Reuters
3 days ago
- Politics
- Reuters
Sweden Democrats apologise for past Nazi links, antisemitism as election nears
STOCKHOLM, June 26 (Reuters) - The anti-immigration Sweden Democrats apologised on Thursday for the party's past Nazi links and antisemitism, part of efforts to present a more moderate, mainstream image to voters ahead of a national election next year. The Sweden Democrats were presenting the results of a specially commissioned study that found Nazi and antisemitic views to have been common at party functions and in its printed materials in the 1980s and 1990s. "That there have been clear expressions of antisemitism and support for National Socialist ideas in my party's history I think is disgusting and reprehensible," Mattias Karlsson, a member of parliament often described as the party's chief ideologist, told a news conference. "I would like to reiterate the party's apology, above all to Swedish citizens of Jewish descent who may have felt a strong sense of insecurity and fear for good reasons." The commissioning of the study sought to acknowledge and break with a past that has long hindered its cooperation with Sweden's mainstream political parties. The Sweden Democrats hope to join a future coalition government after the 2026 election. The party first entered parliament in 2010 and currently supports Sweden's governing right-wing coalition government but has no members in the cabinet. Tony Gustafsson, the historian hired by the party to write the book, said the party had emerged in the 1980s out of neo-Nazi and white supremacist organizations and that it had continued to cooperate with them into the 1990s. "The collaboration seems to have involved using these groups to help distribute election materials," Gustafsson said, adding there were strong indications that one such group, the "White Aryan Resistance", had served as security guards at party gatherings. Gustafsson said there had been a clear connection to Nazism until 1995, the year that current party leader Jimmie Akesson joined the Sweden Democrats, but that the Sweden Democrats had begun distancing itself from such links thereafter.
